Lancaster Canal

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end new strech nearer stainton
Date: 19/03/03
Time fished: 1.00hrs-10.00hrs
Weather conditions: calm 7.5c > 1.5c was warm day sharp frost overnight full moon in misty skies at night
Water conditions:calm no tow or weed
Water Temperature: 11c
Bait: tutti frutti flav black eye/red maggot cocktail
Method: float lift method
Results: blank
Brief description of the session and any remarksnly movement was between 5am and 7am had a lot of problems with rings freezing ect,not many bites at all.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section between top lock and m6
Date: 27/03/03
Time fished: 18.30hrs to 23.30hrs
Weather conditions: calm,air temp 10C droping to 7C
Water conditions: calm, slight colour
Water Temperature: 11C
Bait: sweetcorn and worm cocktail, tried pellet and paste for a couple of hours.
Method: 2 rods, running leger and swing tip
Results: blank
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Met up with Alan Strickland (another FM introduction) then we both fish the top section just before the M6. Plenty of bites and line movement at dusk but no takes. Then just the occasional movement every half hour or so. Alan struck into a fish just before packing up but lost it at the net. Pleasant evening on a pleasant part of the canal.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 24/05/03
Time fished: 05:00hrs to 10:30hrs
Weather conditions: Changeable sunny intervals and showers, Air temp 9C at dawn. Water conditions: Clear slight flow up the canal (north)
Water Temperature: 13C
Fishing Forcast 07:45hrs
Bait: Maggot, Worm/sweet corn cocktail
Method: 2 quiver rods rigged fixed paternoster. Thought it was going to be brezzy, otherwise I'd probably have used swing tips.
Results: 3lb-10oz Tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Met up with Alan at dawn and we fished either end of a very reedy basin. Plenty of movement when we arrived but it went dead when the sun came out. Alan caught 3 tench the first of which was a beautiful 5 1/2lb male. All the fish came during a dull/showery patch around 9am to 10am. Good mornings fishing on a very beautiful part of the canal.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section nearer stainton
Date: 24/05/03
Time fished: 5.00hrs-10.00hrs
Weather conditions: cloudy skies but kept off untill 10ish warm with light winds,strong sunshine on water at 8.00 killed canal until clouds came over again at 9.00
Water conditions:calm problems with canadian pond weed as this stretch is full of it will need rake next visit.
Water Temperature: not taken
Bait: red maggot
Method: float/ledger
Results: 2 tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks:1st time on this reedy basin fished with john conway,had a few bites early on but both fish came after a sunny spell when cloud cover returned.Both males 1st was a great fighting 5lb8oz followed by another male of about 3lb.John also had a nice tench of 3lb8oz.Really nice to get back into the tench,before todays sesion id only caught 1 tench in the whole of may even though i was targeting them (sure it must be the up and down start of year weve had weather wise)

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 25/05/03
Time fished: 05:00hrs to 10:00hrs
Weather conditions: Calm and sunny with the odd bit of cloud cover, Air temp 7C at dawn climbing to 17C by 10:00hrs.
Water conditions: Clear slight ebb & flow,Water Temperature: 13C
Fishing Forcast morning peak 10:00hrs
Bait: Red Maggot
Method: 2 quiver rods rigged fixed paternoster. Last couple of hours dropped one rod onto the float.
Results: 3lb-12oz Tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Two lads already fishing when I arrived at 04:00hrs and by the time I'd raked two swims another lad turn up followed by Alan. Within the first couple of hours everyone had caught, then the sun came out and everything went dead. Just as we were leaving Alan spotted a small shoal of grass carp two of which looked to be double figure fish. No chance with these fellows in the daylight.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 25/05/03
Time fished: 05:00hrs to 10:00hrs
Weather conditions: Calm and sunny with the odd bit of cloud cover, Air temp 7C at dawn climbing to 17C by 10:00hrs.
Water conditions: Clear slight ebb & flow,Water Temperature: 13C
Fishing Forcast morning peak 10:00hrs
Bait: Red Maggot
Method: float/ledger
Results: 2 tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks:5lb4oz female followed by a 2lb male

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 27/05/03
Time fished: 20:00hrs to 24:00hrs
Weather conditions: Overcast, Air Temp 17C
Water conditions: Clear slight flow north
Water Temperature: 15C
Fishing Forcast ?
Bait: Bread & Sweet Corn
Method: 2 quiver rods rigged fixed paternoster.
Results: Blank
Brief description of the session and any remarks: One lad next peg down landed a 5lb + tench just as I arrived, then it went dead. I was just complaining to Alan about the bat bites and just how dead it was when my rod flew out of the rest and I just about caught it before it was off down the canal, what ever it was it shed the hook on that first run. Probalbly one of the big grass carp Alan had spotted on Sunday.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 29/05/03
Time fished: 5.00-13.00
Weather conditions: Overcast, Air Temp 17C
Water conditions: Clear slight flow north with surface weed causing problems with float.
Water Temperature: not taken
Fishing Forcast ?
Bait: red maggot/corn
Method: 1 float rod 1 ledger
Results: 9 tench 1 eel
Brief description of the session and any remarks:wow what a day!!! got my 1 st 2 tench around 7am after a light shower both around 2lb mark at 8am the cloud cover broke and the sun got on the water and killed everything off,at around 9am the cloud came back and i got my 1st big tench of the day a new pb of 6lb.7oz at around 10.45 for no reason i can think of the canal came alive with tench bubbles all heading for the reeds from then on it was just a case of getting my float close enough to the reeds with my line sunk and i got bites from huge tench all day with the best fish coming at 11.25am a new PB of 7lb5oz.all the fish were females and my guess is they are shoaling up for breeding.total tally was
7lb.5oz
6lb.12oz
6lb.7oz
5lb.8oz
4lb.13oz
4lb.8oz
4lb
2lb
2lb
1 small ell (on ledgered corn aimed at grassies)

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 30/05/03
Time fished: 20:30hrs to 02:00hrs
Weather conditions: Hazzy sunshine no wind, Air Temp 19C droping to 13C @ mid-night
Water conditions: Clear slight flow north & quite a bit of floating weed.
Water Temperature: 18C
Fishing Forcast ?
Bait: Bread & Sweet Corn
Method: 2 rods one float, one leger. Changed float to leger at dusk, both leger setups were riged runing and on bite alarms.
Results: 3 Tench 4lb-2oz, 5lb & 5lb-2oz
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Very pleasent evening, all fish taken on bread flake.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 01/06/03
Time fished: 17:30hrs to 24:00hrs
Weather conditions: Hazy sunshine no wind, Air Temp 21C dropping to 16C @ mid-night
Water conditions: Clear slight flow north & quite a bit of floating weed.
Water Temperature: 20C
Fishing Forecast ?
Bait: Bread
Method: 2 rods one float, one leger. Changed float to leger at dusk, both leger setups were riged running and on bite alarms.
Results: 2 Tench 4lb-11oz & 3lb-10oz
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Again another very pleasant evening. One fish taken on the float and on on leger, also missed two runs. Both fish taken before dusk.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 02/06/03
Time fished: 5:30hrs to 12:00hrs
Weather conditions: overcast and colder than weekend warmed up after 11
Water conditions: tea coloured water full of floating and submerged weed flowing north
Water Temperature: not taken
Fishing Forecast ?
Bait: maggots/corn
Method: just the float rod today
Results: 3 Tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks:got into 4lb male 1st cast but things were hard work after that,float fishing almost impossible with the amount of weed flowing through.Had a great 10 min fight with a fish i lost at 10.30 was either very big tench or more likely grass carp.2nd fish came at 11.00 2lb female followed by 3lb female at 12.00.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 07/06/03
Time fished: 04:30hrs to 09:30hrs
Weather conditions: overcast at first but by 08:00hrs it was bright sunshine. Air temp 13C raising to 23C.
Water conditions: clear with a slight flow north.
Water Temperature: 17C
Fishing Forecast ?
Bait: maggots and bread flake
Method: one rod leger rigged running and one rod float. Last hour changed float to leger using a "side winder" bite detector.
Results: 1 2lb eel and a 2lb-3oz tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Canal reasonably quiet now, fish still spawning but not as frenzied. As soon as it got bright everything died. After we packed up Alan and I went for a walk along the canal to have a natter with another lad and to do a bit of fish spotting, and did we spot some very big tench!!. Generally one big female shadowed by two or three smaller males. No sign of any grass carp.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 07/06/03
Time fished: 04:30hrs to 09:30hrs
Weather conditions: overcast at first but by 08:00hrs it was bright sunshine. Air temp 13C raising to 23C.
Water conditions: clear with a slight flow north.
Water Temperature: 17C
Fishing Forecast ?
Bait: maggots and bread flake
Method: one rod leger rigged running and one rod float. Last hour changed float to leger using a "side winder" bite detector.
Results: 1 4lb male tench
Brief description of the session and any remarksnly fish caught at around 6.30 went quite after am with sun on water but thin fish are not really back into feeding yet from spwaning.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 08/06/03
Time fished: 18:30hrs to 24:30hrs
Weather conditions: overcast at first, after heavy rain but by 08:00hrs it was bright sunshine. Air temp 15C dropping to 13C @ midnight.
Water conditions: slight breeze and some ripple at first, clear with a slight flow north.
Water Temperature: 18C
Fishing Forecast 21:00hrs big peak.
Bait: maggots and bread flake
Method: 2 rods rigged running leger.
Results: one 4lb - 14oz tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks: Some movement as I arrived but as soon as it brightened up everything went quiet until dusk. After I got the tench at about 22:40hrs a large single swan moved into the swim throwing it’s weight about with the ducks and coots, by the time it had moved on it was time to pack up. Left the water just as the tench started to splash about again.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 17/06/03
Time fished: 17:30hrs to 23:30hrs
Weather conditions: overcast with cool breeze
Water conditions: slight ripple at first, muddy with a slight flow north with lots of surface weed be carried with it.
Water Temperature: 20C
Fishing Forecast
Bait: maggots castors and corn
Method: 1 float rod
Results: 2 tench
Brief description of the session and any remarks:5lb female @18,00 and a 3 lb male @19.00 lots of bites and most of fish seem to of finnished spawning now.

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 21/06/03
Time fished: 04:30hrs to 11:30hrs
Weather conditions: hazzy sun to sunny intervals with the odd spot of rain. Air temp 11C rising to 22C by mid-day.
Water conditions: clam some colour due to some fish still spawning in the margins and quite a bit of floating weed.
Water Temperature: 17C
Fishing Forecast 7 am good - 9 pm excellent
Bait: Sweet corn and bread flake over mash
Method: 1 rod rigged running leger second rod float, later changed over from float to running leger, with side-winder because of floating weed.
Results: 6 Tench between 3lb and 5lb 6oz.
Brief description........ Best session so far on the canal, was going to go onto the Ribble but river far too low and as it was supposed to cloudy and the canal seemed the best bet for sucsess!! plus I like tench fishing it's a thing you do in the summer and as I've said before this part of the canal is beautiful.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end big basin
Date: 20/06/03
Time fished: 17:30hrs to 23:30hrs
Weather conditions: hot sunny bit of wind
Water conditions: lots of weed floating and fixed need a good rake
Water Temperature: 20C
Fishing Forecast
Bait: maggots castors and corn
Method: 1 float rod
Results: blank
Brief description of the session and any remarks:found a raked swim but fish seemed to totally avoid the clear area

 

[john conway]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end
Date: 22/06/03
Time fished: 17:30hrs to 24:00hrs
Weather conditions: Overcast.
Water conditions: clam some colour due to some fish still spawning.
Water Temperature: 18C
Fishing Forecast ?
Bait: Sweet corn and bread flake over mash
Method: 2 rods rigged running leger Results: Blank
Brief description........ Bit of a disappointing evening mainly because the weather seemed to point it being just right for a few fish. Bit early to say but if the weather is going to be dull all day then the morning sessions are the most productive, if it?s been sunny all day then the evening sessions are more productive. I?d like to thank the two lads form south Lancs who drove their car across the farmers field, leaving a very nice track, because they were too lazy to carry their gear 200 yrds to their car, and you?d no need to tank me for picking up you empty tin of frenzied hemp.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end big basin
Date: 25/06/03
Time fished: 4.00hrsto 11.00hrs then 17:30hrs to 23:30hrs
Weather conditions:very misty 1st thing later hot sunny bit of wind
Water conditions: lots of weed floating and fixed
Water Temperature:
Fishing Forecast
Bait: maggots castors and pellets
Method: 1 float rod
Results: 3 tench in morning blank in eve
Brief description of the session and any remarks:nice morning sesion best fish being a really hard fighting male of 5lb(was an old looking fish with odd deformed tail)fish are getting very wise fast,corn seem`s to be out and bread seem`s to best bait,bites are now trembles on float instead of rod pull`s of a month ago.eve sesion no sign`s of life before 9pm then lots of bubbles and reed bashing but no bites until 10.30pm then it all went dead quite again.

 

[alan strickland]

Section of Fishery or river stretch: Non-navigable section top end big basin
Date: 26/06/03
Time fished: 17:30hrs to 22:00hrs
Weather conditions: sunny bit of wind
Water conditions: lots of weed floating and fixed
Water Temperature: 20C
Fishing Forecast
Bait: maggots castors and bread
Method: 1 float rod
Results: blank
Brief description of the session and any remarks:guy in next swim had 4 nice tench but dont count as he was using a pole!!
had lots of bubbles in swim but no takes thinking about dropping down in size on hooks and hooklenght.